Voice of football: Sepp Blatter

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Today I have with me one of the most influential and powerful persons in international sport, the President of FIFA Mr Jeseph Sepp Blatter. Mr Blatter, first of all welcome to CNN-IBN. First thing I must ask you is that when was the last time you had a holiday?

Sepp Blatter: This is a question I cannot answer because I’m not a holiday man. From time to time, I take three days off. I did it over the Easter festivities, because I’m Catholic. I don’t remember when I’m in the holidays because I don’t know what holidays mean to me.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: You have been to India in the late 70s and in 1982 during the Asian Games. This is your third visit after 25 years. What is exactly your vision of Indian football in the years to come?

Sepp Blatter: In the years to come I have a vision, but what I have seen now is that what India need is help. They need to wake the "sleeping giant" up now, because Indian football at a certain time was a very important part during the Asian Cup in 1961 or 1962. But now, where is the Indian national team? Where are the Indian clubs?

Therefore, something must be done. We have realised in FIFA when going into the geographical map, that we have neglected, I have to say, we have neglected the 'giant' India a little bit, also the sub-continent, with more than 1 billion people. We are coming a little bit late, but then we will have more speed to go forward in a project which is called "Win in India with India".

We will do it together. We have the Asian Football Confederation, they have their “Vision Asia” which has started here, grassroots football. Together with India, we will have to do it. But not only with football, we need the support from all other components. This is our society finally - social, culture, economy and politics - everybody shall be together and we need people to support it, because we are suffering here for the popularity of another sport called cricket.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Perhaps that Mr Blatter is the right way forward. But in the first couple of days during your visit in India, you were in Kolkata, the City of Joy, which is also called the Mecca of Indian football. You have seen those thousands of kids, thousands of people with outstretched hands trying to touch you, chanting your name, supporting your visit there. What is the sense of passion that you have got about Indian football?

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Sepp Blatter: I have to say, the overwhelming enthusiasm goes under the skin, and it was not plain, it was coming from their heart. When I went inside the stadia later on, and young people were not admitted to the visit of the FIFA President, and they were behind barriers, and then they waved their hands through the barriers. This is something that gave me the impression, almost as if I’m visiting prisoners and they are happy about the visit.

But I felt the enthusiasm in the stadia when we were at the Salt Lake Stadium, when there was the match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. The enthusiasm of the young people, not only in front of the FIFA President, but also accompanying the activities on the field of play.

So Kolkata is not only the City of Joy, as I was there during the Bengali New Year, but it was very impressive and it has left me with a big souvenir, not a only a souvenir but also an incentive that we must do something here. You must help because this is a necessity to give access to these young people to our game.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Lets not think in a negative way, Lets think about Indian football, lets not think about what has gone wrong. What could be the cure for Indian football. You have seen there are much smaller South East Asian countries, Asian countries who have had a successful football model, which they have implemented. What is a successful football model for India?

Sepp Blatter: The successful football model we tried to put together with Indian football authorities, sports authorities and also the AFC, they have to identify the model. Because it’s not the same model that we can have in Tajikistan where you have five million or less population, and here you have one billion.

It’s easy to bring everybody together, but I mentioned Tajikistan because they qualified with their Under-17 team this year to the World Cup this year in the Korea Republic. And they did not just qualify by accident, and they are No. 3 in Asia, and five teams from Asia have qualified.

I have to say that they made the effort with one of their teams, and I’m sure, that this can be done here too. This will give us a boost, but it’s not easy. The bigger the country, the tougher it is to produce a combined effort.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Talking about international football, you have been involved with the FIFA for over three decades, close to 32-33 years now. Where exactly do you think is international football is positioned right now?

Sepp Blatter: In international football, when I speak about technique, tactics, the quality of the game, I think we have reached the top. I have to say, we have reached the position of very attractive football. But there are a lot of dangers around this football. As Armstrong says, “What a wonderful world.” But it’s only wonderful when it is around the World Cup. But when the World Cup is over, where is the wonderful world?

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We start again with all the evils in the game, the violence, cheating, doping, racism, match-fixing, and all that. We have to make sure that the football family must take its social responsibility. And this will be basic theme of my next congress at the end of May in Zurich. We will speak about this responsibility, which means that the responsibility comes from the top to the bottom.

These days you see the big football stars, at the end of the match, instead of shaking hands punching each other, fighting each other like we used to do in amateur football 50 years ago.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Do you think there is a certain need to education?

Sepp Blatter: This is the education part of the players, but it’s the responsibility of the coaches. Because the coaches are responsible for the behaviour of their players. And it is always in matches where there is much at stake, and they want to win by all means, and then if they don’t win then somebody is responsible. Generally it is the referee.

But I have to say that refereeing now has improved a lot. And because football is associated with a lot of passion, you cannot control your instinctive emotions and then they come out. But to see outstanding players, unlike we saw in Cardiff and Valencia. Those actions weren’t pardonable. And here, too, these are responsibilities of the coaches, and this is a matter of education. The spectators will behave only as per the actions of the players on the field.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Lets come to the money aspect. Do you think in a certain way, the enormous amount of money which is involved in the game, does that lead to a lot of these situations like match-fixing, or player behaviour. Also, if we talk about the English Premier League, the top stars there are paid something which is probably much more than the annual budget of the smaller clubs which play the UEFA Champions League. Do you think that it is unbalanced football out there?

Sepp Blatter: Concerning the money, yes. But match-fixing is not linked with money. Match-fixing doesn’t happen at the highest level. It is like gangsters trying to make some money, trying to come in and support players or referees, which is worse.

But there is too much money in football. And because of so much money, and so many foreign investors, and by foreign I mean foreign from football, a club should be financed by its membership, and by the entries of television, marketing, the fans, the spectators. But now it is fashion, “Lets buy a soccer club.” So somebody from the Americas, somebody from Asia, somebody from Russia, they come there with a lot of money, saying, “Lets buy a soccer club.”

And then they want to have success by all means – that they want to have the best players, they pay them extremely high wages and salaries, and then they expect results. Then they will also take the best coaches, the coaches then pout pressure on the players, then the players playing out there put pressure on the referees, because they want to go until what is permitted.

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And then it creates the problem when there is a semi-final or a final, and they lose. And because there is so much money, the President of the club comes and tells them, “If you win today, you have an extra bonus of 100,000.” Then the players are thinking about another Ferrari, or something like that. They even start to play like Ferraris, getting a red card and getting out. This is adventure for them, but this is an economic factor and if FIFA cannot intervene directly, then what we can do is have a look from where all the money is coming from.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: In recent years, club football has done a lot. It built up a very positive, big and better international soccer. There is more viewership, lot more people are interested in football because of club football. But at the same time, we have also seen a number of conflicts rising between clubs and national teams over players playing international matches. Does FIFA want to do something to sort it out, make the clubs and national teams come to an understanding that players be release for certain matches.

Sepp Blatter: I wouldn’t say that the conflict exists, because we have started sessions between the two protagonists. But we have never asked the players. We now also have document of understanding with the players’ union, and we have to ask them, and they are not happy. Players are not happy because they have too many matches to play.

But this is a question of discipline by the clubs, and not the national association or national team. The clubs play too many matches. And if they don’t play in the league or in a cup, then there are repercussions. But when they have the time, they are touring with the players instead of letting these players relax. The problem with the international calendar is a problem of discipline. 85 per cent of the clubs are not complying by the discliplines, while only 15 per cent of national teams fail to do so.

So the national teams like Brazil and Argentina have committed to let their star players play in time zones suited to the European calendar, when they make their 2-3-day warm-up tours. We are searching for solutions, but it is a question of respect from the clubs.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: To bring this interview to a close, I will ask you a few rapid-fire questions, based on you and your life. What according to has been the most defining game in the last 50 years on the field? Was it Pele, was it Maradona, was it Beckenbauer?

Sepp Blatter: From whatever I have seen, it has been Alfredo de Stephano. For me he was the best because he played during the time when I started to play. Bt then I have seen other players which I’m still in contact. They have served football using their personality. They are Pele, Beckenbauer and Platini.

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Platini and Beckenbauer are also in the committee, meaning that they have put their boots in a corner, and are serving football because football has served them. There are other outstanding players too, but they don’t have the charisma that these players have.

Among the new generation people like Zidane and Beckham. Beckham is such a wonderful man. He is not an outstanding player. He is a good football player, but he is such a charismatic man that will do a lot of good MLS when he plays in California.

I also had a lot of admiration for Uwe Seeler, because he played No. 9 as I played, and we are the same age. We do look a little bit like brothers. I am also in good contact with Brazilians Cafu, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, all of them have much more enthusiasm for the game than the Argentines. Argentines are cold players.

But Diego Maradona is something else, he is a legend. But he is again in hospital. He was the most talented player in the world and he could not manage, or maybe his managers could not manage all his talent. Today he could have been a wonderful ambassador for football, he could be admired everywhere. But when you spend half of the time in hospital or in other medical care, then something is wrong with you.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: One word of advice for all those youngsters watching this interview on CNN-IBN. As President of FIFA, you have held one of the most important posts in the soccer body. But you have also faced a lot of criticism. What is your advice to people on how to face criticism? How do you handle it?

Sepp Blatter: Football is criticised everywhere because football is a human game and everybody makes mistakes, referees, coaches and so on. And then you have a President who was always a footballer, he still is a footballer. And then if something is wrong in football then you need to be responsible.

That’s me, and I take this responsibility. But responsibility is also rewarded by national associations. As you know, I am going for the elections and I’m unopposed for my third mandate. It means that I have confidence in the family of football.

So to the young players I say start playing football. Play football. It’s a wonderful game, but don’t forget that it’s School of Life. Do it the way you shall do it, with discipline, respect. It’s combat game, but play in good spirits, Fair Play, Fair Play.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Final thoughts on India, can India produce a Zidane, a Beckenbauer or an Alfredo di Stephano in the next 50 years? What are your thoughts?

Sepp Blatter: They can do that. They have one billion people. They have the talent to do it. Chuni Goswami asked me, “Our players are physically not so fit.” So I said “If you have not enough physical institutes to put your players on the best possible physical shape, then something is wrong.” But you have one billion people, and you cannot do that?

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I’m sure you have the talent and the intelligence. You are such a cultured nation, India is such a cultured nation, millenniums of cultures here in this country, different cultures. This means that you have the basic intelligence other countries don’t have. And football is an intelligent game, and they should better go to football, and to other games here. I have nothing against cricket, but basketball is also such an intelligent game.

Sanjeeb Mukherjea: Thank you very much Mr Blatter for giving us the time here on CNN-IBN, and we definitely hope that we also find some answers to the Indian football crisis.

Sepp Blatter: Definitely. Thank you.